California Hobby shops to visit within 100 miles+- of San Francisco

Visit the Sacramento Railroad Museum.  It's roughly 100 miles from San Fran.  You won't be dissapointed!

https://www.californiarailroad.museum/

Try Western Depot in Yuba City.  It is about 50 miles north of Sacramento.

Jan

Go to the DEALERS PAGE on our web site and use our Dealer Locator . Enter 94110 for the zip code a do a search.

There are 6 OGR Dealers within 100 miles of San Francisco.

Rich.  I bookmarked the dealer locator when you announced it.  Great app, I know some dealer aren’t on it 

If you like full size electric rail cars and want to actual ride one, try the Western Railway Museum in Susisun City. The website is WRM.ORG

Overall, the pickin's are kinda slim for hobby shops that specialize in model railroads - not to say that there aren't some in the Bay Area, but nothing I would label "must see".  On the other hand, there are lots of publicly accessible model railroad layouts (though as I check their websites, the ones I like are not open to the public until later in the spring) and some 'real' 1 to 1 scale set ups.  There's also a live steam layout in Tilden Park, just east of Berkeley, which has 2.5, 2.5, 4.75 and 7.5 inch gauge trackage (www.goldengatels.org) - some of which you can ride on.  I think they are only open on Sundays.  I also second the Sacramento RR museum and the electric traction at Suisun City (not as far from SF as Sacto) suggestions.  One other suggestion is the Niles Canyon Railway, which runs between Fremont and Sunol (southern end of SF Bay - www.ncry.org).  If you are going to be in Napa, you could ride the wine train (www.winetrain.com) - pulled by a couple of vintage Alco FA's

Good suggestions above have done most when in town good. Western Depot has a huge warehouse ask for a look if you visit worth the drive/train up to them.

You might also be interested in some model train clubs and layouts displays I found this page when searching that has a good over view;

https://just-trains.com/RxR-Links/Clubs

But this is one that is worth a visit; Golden State Model Railroad Museum. It shows they are closed till April but I have always contacted the O Gauge contacts for a visit when in town and out of the regular visitor hours they have been accommodating in the past. A really spectacular set of layouts.

http://www.gsmrm.org/

A must do is riding the Napa Valley Wine Train!  Good Time & Wine, plus good Food!  We always ride in the Vista Dome Car!!! If you are into HO Ttains, they sell a replica of the Wine Train in the Waiting Area!  There is also a Train Store in Napa! I have purchased something O Scale each time I have been there! You might Google it!!

Was the store in Napa "The Loose Caboose"?

rboatertoo posted:

Was the store in Napa "The Loose Caboose"?

 

Yes, it was!!!

Thanks

To me the best train attraction in that area,  is getting there,  onboard the Amtrak California Zephyr. 

Dollhouse Trains and More in Novato. About thirty miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin. It's on your way to the wine country. Lots of O gauge. Many never sold items that are getting long in the tooth but prices are still high. It's worth a stop. Fun store just to visit. This is their web site. https://www.dollhousestrainsandmore.com    

Don

The-Train-Shop

just-trains

hobbies unlimited

We made it to the Loose Caboose, not much in 0 but we did get a Napa Valley wine car and a Marx Illinois Central girder bridge. If you are looking for the Lionel Wine Train set they have one for sale 

“The Train Shop” didn’t have much in o but if your looking for books, they have it all sorted by rail lines.  They had some cars but no engines.  It is 5 mins from the Winchester House so we did the tour  

We also stopped at Western Depot and asked to see the warehouse.  I gave up after a half hour in the warehouse because it was so over whelming. They have a ton of new k-line train cars, track for easy street, porters etc.  TWe found a few unique items, Atlas gunderson and they are shipping them Home for us.

Here till 3 pm on Wednesday, hoping to visit a few more   I tried googling but you guys are better. Most of these didn’t show up 

Thanks and keep the suggestions coming 

It turns out that the hobby shop, Just Trains, has a nice listing of places to visit, here:

https://just-trains.com/RxR-Links

Is Chan's Trains or Chan's Hobbies still in business?

tcox009 posted:

Is Chan's Trains or Chan's Hobbies still in business?

No - Closed a couple of years ago.

NH Joe

I don't know if you are still in the area, but for others who may visit one day; Amtrak offers the Capital Corridor service from San Jose to Sacramento with stops in Berkeley, Martinez, Suisun City and others, the route has a stop near the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. I'm not sure if the route has service to CSRM on days other than on the weekend, but it's a great trip!

The route passes along the San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay, through the Carquinez Straits and then across the 1930s U.P. Bridge that replaced the world's largest train ferry that operated from Benicia to Port Costa as the last leg of the trans-continental railroad before reaching Oakland. Look it up, it's pretty amazing!

Hope you enjoy your trip.